Wither by Lauren DeStefano

Wither (Chemical Garden Trilogy, #1)

by Lauren DeStefano

A Handmaid’s Tale for a new generation…

Sixteen-year-old Rhine Ellery has only four years left to live when she is kidnapped by the Gatherers and forced into a polygamous marriage. Now she has one purpose: to escape, find her twin brother, and go home – before her time runs out forever.

What if you knew exactly when you would die?

Thanks to modern science, every human being has become a ticking genetic time bomb – males only live to age twenty-five and females only live to age twenty. In this bleak landscape, young girls are kidnapped and forced into polygamous marriages to keep the population from dying out.

When sixteen-year-old Rhine Ellery is taken by the Gatherers to become a bride, she enters a world of wealth and privilege. Despite her husband Linden’s genuine love for her, and a tenuous trust among her sister wives, Rhine has one purpose: to escape – to find her twin brother and go home.

But Rhine has more to contend with than losing her freedom. Linden’s eccentric father is bent on finding an antidote to the genetic virus that is getting closer to taking his son, even if it means collecting corpses in order to test his experiments. With the help of Gabriel, a servant she trusts, Rhine attempts to break free, in the limited time she has left.

Reviewed by Stephanie on

4 of 5 stars

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I wasn't sure about Wither, but I decided to give it a try because the concept seemed really interesting, and I'm glad I did. This story is kind of scary because it could happen, humans creating a virus that kills off the population.

I was kind of stuck between whether I wanted Rhine to escape or not. The way she described life before she got kidnapped didn't sound pleasant. She had to worry about people breaking into her and her twin brothers house and she had to always be careful if she ever went outside so the Gatherers wouldn't get her, and she had to work for little money.

So when she does get kidnapped by the Gatherers and is taken to this huge mansion, she has everything she needs right there. She doesn't have to do anything besides be Linden's bride. But she's still not happy because she wants to be with her brother and not be in a mansion that has a terrible man living in it and doing terrible things.

So I could understand why she would stay in the mansion, but I could also understand why she would want to leave. I couldn't help but feel so sad for all the characters. Well, besides Housemaster Vaughn. Rhine's sister wives really became Rhine's sisters and she became so close to some of the domestics and attendants. I was hoping she would find a way to get all those people out of that mansion.

Actually, thinking back to it, this book is kind of sad. How could it not be? Everyone is a ticking time bomb. They have so little time to live their lives.

Wither was a very pleasant surprise. I did not expect to feel so close to all the characters, and the writing was very pretty. Though I did feel like some things were repeated when they didn't need to be. I found myself think 'OK, I got it the first time'. But that only happened a two or three times.

Overall, I really enjoyed Wither and was very happy that I decided to give it a try.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 29 May, 2011: Finished reading
  • 29 May, 2011: Reviewed